


Lazy Cove

by indigorose50



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Mermaids, Drama, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Magic, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-02-05 17:06:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12798678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigorose50/pseuds/indigorose50
Summary: Robbie, a Mermaid in Lazy Cove, leads a fairly normal life. That is, until he meets a certain friendly blond sailor and his equally friendly pink-haired niece. Now Robbie is learning not just about humans, but about himself as well.[Or, The Long Promised Mermaid AU]





	1. Silver Chain

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go, folks! No Sportacus just yet but he's important so he'll show up eventually. As always, tell me if there are any errors!
> 
> For those who don't know, this was based on a Lazytown writing prompt I did. You don't have to have read it to get this story, don't worry. The scene shows up again later anyway.

The ocean was crystal clear when Robbie woke up. He considered it “bright and early” but most might think of it as “midafternoon”. He stretched, cracking his back and neck and uncurling his long violet tail. He had a few quiet moments where all he could hear was water moving through his own gills and the faint crunching sounds of a parrot fish nearby.

Then there was a loud crash and Robbie jumped. He pushed himself off the sandy sea floor and whirled around.

“Those _brats_ ,” Robbie muttered. To a human’s ears, the words would have sounded closer to bubbles popping rhythmically. To Glanni, who had been lying next to Robbie, the statement was completely understood and sympathized with.

“They’ve been doing that for hours,” Glanni complained without opening his eyes, “They woke me up at dawn and I can’t get back to sleep.”

The four children of Lazy Cove were an energetic bunch. Currently they were playing a game that involved throwing shells on top of a high ledge. The crash had been Ziggy accidently swimming into their stock pile. Two of the children laughed at this while a third yelled “MY _SHELLS_!” in a way that made Robbie’s ears ring.

Robbie groaned and rubbed his temples, “I swear I’m moving.”

Glanni hummed in a ‘sure you are’ way and rolled over in the sand, squeezing his eyes shut tighter.

Now that he was up, Robbie’s stomach decided it was time for food. But the corral was passed the children’s play area. Maybe if he swam quietly enough…

Robbie held his breath, the wide gills on his sides closing into thin lines as he did so, and glided silently towards the kids. For the moment, they seemed distracted by their game. All four kids were tossing the shells onto the rocky ledge that marked the center of Lazy Cove. When one stuck, the other kids cheered. Robbie tried to circle around them.

Stingy, the one whose pile Ziggy had crashed into, threw a shell so hard it bounced off the rock and hit him in the forehead. Robbie let out a barking laugh before he could stop himself.

They all turned to him. “Robbie!” Ziggy swam as quickly as he could to Robbie. His pale blue guppy-like tail hit the sand several times as he beat it furiously. He was the youngest merkid in Lazy Cove and still had trouble swimming. It was for that reason and that reason only that Robbie didn’t speed expertly away before Ziggy could catch him. No need to discourage the kid.

“Good morning, Soggy,” Robbie greeted flatly.

“It’s afternoon now. And I’m ZIGGY.”

“Whatever.”

“Do you wanna play Shell Rock with us?”

“Not even a little bit.”

“Aw, come on!” Trixie said, swimming up to them. Her rust colored tiger shark tail curled under her as she crossed her arms, “You’ve been asleep all day! Don’t you want to move around a bit?”

Robbie flicked his tail against the sea floor, both in irritation and to get some distance from the kids. “Sounds exhausting. No thank you.”

“Don’t let him fool you kids! He _really_ wants to play!” There was a hand on Robbie’s shoulder all of a sudden. Glanni, who had somehow snuck up behind him, went on. “Robbie _always_ wants to play games with you all!” He leaned down closer to where all four merkids were now clustered in front of them and whispered loudly, “He’s just really _shy_.”

Before Robbie could punch him for spouting such _lies_ , Pixel clapped his hands, his thin algae green tetra tail curling into his chest as a wide grin spread across his face, “You can play with us Robbie! You don’t have to be afraid!” The bright blue stripe down his tail almost seemed to pulse in excitement.

“We can teach you Shell Rock,” Stingy said. His striped clownfish tail caught the sun pushing through the water and reflected the light into Robbie’s eyes. Painfully. “But you’ll have to get your _own_ shells.”

All the merkids began talking at once, trying to explain both the game and where to get the best shells. Robbie stared daggers over at Glanni. Put shoulder to shoulder, Glanni was taller than Robbie by a good few inches. But now, Robbie pushed himself up enough to glare down at his cousin.

“What have I _ever_ done to you?”

“Sorry Rob, but I’m hungry too. And I needed a distraction.”

With that, Glanni swam away. If not for the children so close by, Robbie would have yelled curses at his retreating back.

He turned his attention back to the brats when Ziggy pressed something into his arm. “You can use some of my shells, Robbie!” The smiled Ziggy aimed up at him made Robbie sigh. He resigned himself to his fate.

Almost an hour later, Robbie was able to extract himself from the merkids and swim away to the food corral. It was a large empty area on the outside of Lazy Cove. They all took turns feeding the fish there, which meant a large amount of schools hung around most of the time. The fish didn’t seem to notice when a hungry merperson came by and snagged a few of their number for a meal. Robbie swam by quickly and plucked two horse mackerel for himself. The school continued on, oblivious.

Munching on his breakfast/lunch, Robbie swam up to the surface. The sun was alone in the sky and felt wonderful on Robbie’s limbs and tail. Playing with merkids wasn’t his idea of a good morning. Even though he hadn’t been trying to win, keeping up with the four bundles of energy had tired him out. Robbie let himself float there on his back. The sun bounced off his scales and scattered purple light around him.

“See? Was that so bad?”

He sighed at Glanni’s voice entered his ears. “Being your bait? It was pretty bad.”

“Stop whining.”

“I’m not. You asked a question.”

“You’re supposed to be impressed by my cleverness.”

Robbie opened his eyes to give Glanni a flat look. His cousin merely laughed. His grey dolphin-like tail flopped briefly out of the water behind him in mirth.

Glanni snagged the last of the mackerel Robbie had been holding loosely to his chest, “Cheer up. I have a gift for you,” he said, sucking the fish’s exposed spine.

“It better be good. Do you know how sharp shells can be when they’re chipped? _Very_.”

“You’re whining again.”

“What’s your stupid gift?”

“Let’s dive first. I know the sun likes you but it doesn’t agree with me.” Without waiting for an answer, Glanni ducked under the water. Rolling his eyes, Robbie joined him.

Now just under the surface, with the sun’s light being filtered through the waves, Glanni rummaged around in his seaweed shoulder bag. There wasn’t much in there so the rummaging was probably for dramatic effect. Robbie didn’t have high hopes for his gift.

He was wrong.

Out of his bag, Glanni pulled out a thin silver chain. Robbie gapped and stopped floating on his back to use his hands. He lifted the chain gently from Glanni’s palm and held it up.

“How did you _find_ this?” Robbie asked in total awe. Gold chains he had a good amount of. Thick metal anchor chains too. But delicate silver ones like this? They were almost impossible to see on the sandy floor.

“One of the fish in the corral had it in its mouth,” Glanni explained, “Knew you’d like it.”

“I have to put this away. Right now.”

“Of course you do. Am I forgiven?”

“Absolutely.”

“Great. Now that my conscience is clear, I think it’s time for a nap.” Glanni turned to float on his back, his tail lazily waving back and forth to keep him in place. Hi eyes shut contently and he waved a hand, “Go to your weird human collection. The brats are playing at Trixie’s so you’re clear.”  

Robbie tucked the chain into his own bag and took off, making sure to flick Glanni with his tail as he passed just for that ‘weird human collection’ comment.

Robbie collected human things. Not just to stockpile them or look at them; he liked using what he found to invent things. For example, the satchels Glanni and most of Lazy Cove had were made by Robbie, who had found a torn brown human bag on one of his adventures out of town. Robbie had figured out how to make similar bags from seaweed and had made them for everyone. Robbie himself had repaired the original and now swam with it tucked close to his body, both to keep the chain inside secure and so he could move faster in the water.

South of town was a small island. One side was entirely beach. Another was muddy and full of grass. The final bit was craggy rocks. Robbie had found a cave on that rocky side years ago. The entrance was under water, allowing him to swim right into it.

The cave split into two major areas, with several, smaller offshoots that led to cramped places Robbie didn’t use. One short tunnel to the left led to where Robbie stuck human things that were simply interesting or complete mysteries. Today, Robbie swam to the right. This was where he kept things that looked useful. He referred to it as his workshop in conversation, as he did most of his inventing here as well. This was the bigger of the two caves.

In the roof of the cave was a hole that led outside and allowed sunlight in. Robbie swam passed the center of the cave to place the chain on a neat pile of clothes, “Don’t move,” he told it. Then he cast off his bag and let it float to the cave floor. He crossed his arms and stared hard at the chain, his tail keeping him upright and in place as he pondered. Silver chains were rare. Whatever he used this for had to be special.

Robbie spent most of the afternoon pouring through his collection in _both_ caves, trying to come up with something he could make. He fiddled with other items from his collection to see if they would spark an idea in him. Most of his inventions came about trying to recreate something human or something he could see was needed in Lazy Cove, like with the shoulder bags. He sifted through crates of human clothes, piles of shiny things, old planks that were crowded in the corner, and even a small dish of sea glass he found on a shelf.

His voice filled the cave as he pondered each piece he came across. “Too dull. Too small. Not small enough. Why do I have _three_ of these? Close, but no. What even is this?”

In the end, despite him combing the workshop twice, Robbie found nothing worth pairing with the silver chain.

“How many years I’ve been hording this stuff and _nothing_ works?!” he cried to no one. With a sigh, Robbie swam back to his workshop cave and grabbed his bag. He would need to travel tomorrow and see what he could find.


	2. Burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mermaid Fact: The sun easily burns (most) mermaids.

Dusk was settling over the water as Robbie made his way back to the Cove. The kids were no longer playing their stupid shell game in the town center. He assumed they were by the corral having dinner. He swam passed his and Glanni’s usual sleeping area and found that empty too. In fact, the rest of town seemed entirely too quiet. Where was everyone?

He got his answer when he passed by Bessie Busybody’s home. It was a small cave, over the mouth of which she draped kelp to keep her privacy. Three of the merkids were hovering and peaking around the green curtain. All of them looked worried. Robbie did a little mental math to figure out which kid was missing.

“Where’s Stingy?” He asked.

Pixel, Trixie, and Ziggy all turned to look at him. “You’re back!” Ziggy swam forward, “Stingy got hurt—”

Before Robbie could process that alarming bit of information, Glanni emerged from Bessie’s cave, whipping back the plant life and nearly tripping over Ziggy.

“There you are!” Glanni snapped, “I give you one necklace and you disappear for a day!”

“You know where my cave is if you needed me,” Robbie pointed out, “What’s this about Stingy being hurt?”

“Where do you keep that burn stuff you make?”

Robbie’s eyes widened. Without asking anymore questions, Robbie turned and sped away back the way he had come. Next to his sleeping spot was a curved rock jutting out of the seafloor. To the right of this rock, Robbie dug deep into the sand and pulled out a clear bottle filled with treated seaweed. Fast as he could, he swam back to Bessie’s home. He followed Glanni inside, panting slightly.

“Where were you hiding that?! I look all over!” Glanni asked as they entered the cave.

“It needs to stay cold! I told you I had buried next to the rock.”

“Yeah, I looked there!

“Did you look on the right side?”

“You told me _left_.”

“Why would I tell you left?!”

“Boys? Are you done?”

Both Glanni and Robbie looked sheepishly over at Bessie Busybody, who was glaring at the two of them. Her long sea horse-like tail was gingerly wrapped around Stingy’s waist, holding him up. The merkid looked miserable. His stomach was an angry red. His parents were hovering nearby, anxious but too scared to touch their son least they cause him more pain.

Argument forgotten, Robbie floated over to the pair. Stingy was clutching Bessie’s tail with one hand and covering part of his chest with the other. Robbie gently pulled his arm down so he could examine the damage.

“I used what you gave me two weeks ago when I burnt my scalp but it’s not nearly enough,” Bessie explained. Robbie had indeed given Bessie some of the mixture when she had been trying to use the sun to lighten her hair. Sure enough, a small amount of green sludge was caked onto Stingy’s midriff where scales met skin. Robbie opened the bottle in his hand and began to apply more of the same substance. As he worked, Stingy slowly relaxed. The red calmed down to a dull pink.

Bessie, who before had been comforting Stingy, turned a stern look on the merkid, “What were you _thinking_ , Stingy?! You _know_ we burn in the sun! Why were you above the water for so long?”

“ _Robbie_ can lie in the sun, why can’t _I_ do it?” Stingy whined.

“One of my many talents, kid,” Robbie said as he capped the bottle, “You’re lucky it was just your skin. If you had let your scales dry out, I don’t know how helpfully this stuff would be.”

Stingy huffed and made to cross his arms in a pout. His chest was still sensitive, however, so he winced instead. That was the cue for his parents to swim up and look him over, offering their own lectures.

Bessie unwrapped her tail from around Stingy and came up to Glanni and Robbie. “Thank you both for your help.”

“Oh yes, I was an _enormous_ help,” Glanni said, rolling his eyes, “Don’t be nice to me, Bessie. I just swam around like an idiot.”

“Well if you insist.” Without missing a beat, Bessie turned to Robbie, “Thank _you_ , Robbie, for all your help! Glanni was a panicking mess, no use at all.”

Glanni gave a squawk of indignation and Robbie held back laughter. Bessie didn’t bother, openly giggling at the look on Glanni’s face.

“I was not _panicking_!” Glanni defended.

“If you want to be useful for a change,” Robbie interrupted, “go out and tell the other brats that Spongy is fine.”

“STINGY!” cried a voice just behind them.

“WHATEVER,” Robbie called back.

With another snort of amusement, Bessie showed both Glanni and Robbie to the cave entrance. Mayor Milford Meanswell was outside with the other merkids. He seemed to be mid lecture.

“—so let this be a lesson to you all,” he was saying, “don’t float above the water! Direct sunlight is very painful. You should never be that close to the surface without a grown up. What if a human ship came along and ran you over? Or a bird attacked you?”

“But birds are nice,” Ziggy said, raising his hand, “Sometimes they drop the fish they were eating and you get a free snack!”

“A-All the same!” Milford went on, his pufferfish lower half swelling slighting as his nerves tinted his voice, “Never go up that high alone!”

Robbie swam up behind them, “And if one of you tries to say ‘but _Robbie_ does it!’ I’m going to make you _eat_ this medicine.”

Three faces turned and three loud voices started chattering at him all at once. To Robbie’s relief, Stingy and his parents left Bessie’s cave at the same time so all annoying questions were instead fired at Stingy.

Glanni and Robbie made their escape. Robbie led them around to the corral so he could finally get some food. The sun had set properly now. Most creatures, like humans, would probably only be able to see by the dim light of the moon. Mermaids, however, see just fine in the dark.

“How long was Stingy up there?” Robbie asked as he snatched a sea bass effortlessly from a school, “That burn was pretty severe.”

Glanni shrugged, “A couple hours? I heard him whining at the other kids for using his stuff and he swam right past me to sulk somewhere. He didn’t come back until his parents called him for dinner. He came down looking like that.

Robbie cursed, “I can yell at them from sun up to sun down to be quiet and they’ll never listen to me. I sunbathe and they copy _that_.”

“Merkids make no sense.”

With a hum of agreement, Robbie followed Glanni to their sleeping spot. He used to ask Glanni if he wanted to get a cave or outcrop to call home at some point but Glanni would always wave the idea away. He preferred having as much room as possible. Robbie never pressed the issue much. His cousin never even went inside Robbie’s cave system.

When they arrived at the spot, Glanni stretched out on the sand and rolled around, kicking up a small cloud as he rubbed his dolphin skin clean along the sea floor. Robbie swam a little above the cloud, holding his dinner aloft.

Finally, Glanni went still and folded his arms behind his head. “Any plans for tomorrow?”

“I need to find something for the chain. I was going to go out.”

Glanni snorted, “You were gone all day and you couldn’t figure out what to do with the damn thing?”

“I need to use it for something _good_ ,” Robbie argued around a mouthful of bass, “I want to find something special to use it for.” He paused to swallow then asked carefully, “Do you… want to come with me?”

Glanni looked up at him, then turned his head to survey the open ocean to his right. He was quiet for a time.

“No,” he said finally. His voice was soft and he had yet to look back at Robbie.

Robbie nodded and moved away to deposit his fish bones where the current would take them away. He looked back over his shoulder as he moved towards the curved rock to rebury his burn medicine. Glanni didn’t like going too far from Lazy Cove anymore. Robbie still liked to invite him along, just in case Glanni ever got his confidence back.

When Robbie drifted back over, Glanni had rolled onto his stomach and was playing with a shell. “Be careful of humans out there, okay?”

Robbie’s eyes traced the long, puckered scar on Glanni’s dolphin tail. “Always am,” he replied simply.

Glanni nodded and turned over. His tail curved in towards his body and his back was to Robbie.

“Goodnight,” Glanni called.

Robbie curled up next to his cousin so their shoulders were touching. Glanni wouldn’t say it but Robbie knew he appreciated the contact. The reassurance he wasn’t alone. Robbie curled his own tail around himself. Being longer than Glanni’s, he was able to rest his cheek on his tail fins.

“Goodnight, Glanni.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise you a Sportacus in the next chapter. Hang in there~


	3. Showing Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie goes on an adventure. And makes a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! Time got away from me (retail job plus holidays equals RIP Sleep). I hope Sportacus' arrival is apology enough!

The next morning, _late_ morning, Robbie woke up and packed his bag for his trip. He didn’t require much— a round glass that made things under it look bigger, a small drawstring bag for any fragile things he picked up, a thin rock he used as a knife, and a compass Glanni had given him. Using the compass, Robbie was able to navigate even when the stars weren’t out. Glanni had shown him how to use it but was always cryptic on how he had acquired it in the first place. It seem pretty old to Robbie; the metal was rusted in spots and the glass covering the dial was cracked.

Still, it served Robbie well and he packed it up with the rest of his things. He looped the bag around his shoulders and was off. The children were drawing in the sand by the corral so he had no choice but to interact with them when he went to get breakfast.

“Robbie!’ Trixie called when she saw him, “You’re up early. Well, early for _you_.”

“Do you always have to be so rude?” He snapped as he pushed past them.

“Are you going on another adventure today?!” Ziggy asked, dropping the horn shell he had been drawing with.

“I don’t go on adventures. They’re exhausting. I’m going hunting for human stuff.”

Pixel’s face lit up, “Can we come?!”

Robbie watched a school of fish carefully, trying to decide if he was hungry for sea bass again, “Absolutely not.”

“But you always come back with the coolest stuff!” Pixel went on.

“And when you’re older YOU can go out and get cool stuff too,” Robbie said. He grabbed a passing cod and turned to the merkids with a grin, “In fact, I recommend following in my footsteps _exactly_. Start by sleeping later. Then maybe _I’ll_ get some good sleep.”

Stingy crossed his arms over his pink chest, “Yesterday you said to _not_ follow what you do.”

Robbie shrugged, “Not my fault you picked the wrong thing to copy.” He bit the head off the fish and started swimming away passed the corral.

“Why don’t _you_ burn in the sun??” Stingy called after him. Robbie pretended not to hear.

In truth, Robbie had no idea. There were some things mermaids were supposed to be able to do on instinct that Robbie had never been able to do. For example, mermaids could sense their own kind nearby by feeling the pulses through the water. Robbie had never been able to do that. For some reason, there were also things he _could_ do that no one else could, not even Glanni. One of which was being able to stay above water for a long time. Direct sunlight for too long burned mermaids, as Stingy had experienced yesterday.

Robbie had asked Glanni, his only close family, about these peculiarities multiple times. Glanni always either made up some outrageous explanation that Robbie didn’t believe for a second (“It’s because we fed you a _lot_ of Giant Squid blood when you were a baby and now you’re a _super_ mermaid!”) or just flat out said he had no idea why Robbie was a werido. Not that the ‘why’ really mattered. Robbie was happy as he was.

Done with his cod, Robbie followed the sea floor where it sloped down into deeper waters. He pulled out the round glass that magnified things and scanned the ground. Hundreds of tiny fish swam away from Robbie as he glided over their hidey holes. Crustaceans scuttled around the rocks and coral, uninterested in the purple mermaid.

Soon he arrived at a place where large bunches of seaweed spiraled up towards the surface. Larger fish wove in and out of these, catching smaller fish as they went. None were bigger than Robbie and he floated among them without fear. Imbedded in the vegetation were a few small metal hooks. Robbie had dozens of these in his cave but a couple more wouldn’t hurt. He placed them in his smaller bag so they wouldn’t catch on anything.

Robbie traveled through flat, expressionless sandy plains; towering rock spires; shallow caves covered in sea sponges; and rainbow coral beds. He avoided a large group of whales that lumbered by at one point. He hid way down low and watched them pass above him. They blocked out the sun’s rays at they moved, casting monstrous shadows on the sea floor. Robbie waved at the smallest one with a grin. It made a noise at him and raised a flipper in return.

Just after midday, a pod of dolphins raced by him. Glanni loved playing with dolphins, for obvious reasons. One dolphin nosed curiously at Robbie’s bag.

“Shoo,” Robbie growled, pushing the creature away. She seemed to pout but moved on quickly to keep up with her family.

Hordes of tuna, swordfish, stingray, and a few sunfish swam by as well. Robbie maneuvered carefully around a lionfish. None of them were as interested in the human cast offs as Robbie was. Robbie dug around a broken wooden crate and, not finding anything worth his attention, decided it was time to look over his treasures for the day.

He made his way to the surface and looked around the open ocean. No human ships in sight. Safe for the moment, Robbie opened his bag to assess his finds. Nothing would quite match the splendor of the silver chain but the day had not been a waste. In Robbie’s bag were a few interesting pieces of drift wood, some tin metal sticks with prongs on one end, the bag of hooks, a folded piece of  some kind of colored animal skin (though Robbie couldn’t begin to guess what animal), and what appeared to be a sea urchin with a handle. Robbie poked the dull spikes of the object and shrugged. Maybe he could use it to clean his scales. Rolling on the sand to clean his tail got exhausting sometimes.

Robbie put everything back into his bag and pulled out the compass. After spinning in a slow circle, he figured out the right direction for Lazy Cove. He stayed close to the surface as he swam back, watching the sky change around him.  Seagulls flew overhead occasionally. Puffy white clouds passed briefly in front of the sun as it sunk lower in the sky. All in all, it was much more peaceful than having to stick around Lazy Cove and listen to the brats make a racket.

After some time, a human ship sailed into Robbie’s field of vision. Excitement coursed through Robbie. He liked swimming close to human ships, despite his cousin’s warnings. He liked catching the things that fell off or were tossed into the ocean and adding them to his collection. Human inventions were very interesting. Robbie could come up with his own original inventions, of course, but having something human to work off of was always easier.

Usually upon seeing Robbie and his shimmery violet tail, humans would scream or yell for more onlookers. Some even tried to catch or hurt Robbie. For this reason, Robbie dove under the water to approach the ship. He glided close to the surface and kept an eye on the ship. It wasn’t as large as some of the others Robbie had seen but it still cut an impressive image on the otherwise empty open ocean. Large squares of white cloth tied to tall poles were curved by the wind, pushing the ship forward.

Robbie breached the surface and looked around, hoping no one had noticed him yet. Near the pointed end of the ship, however, Robbie saw a human staring at him. Fear coursed up Robbie’s spine.

The sailor in the blue hat just smiled down at Robbie and waved. 

Perplexed, Robbie waved back. He swam a little closer to the ship. The human was leaning so far over the railing that maybe he would drop something.  

As if sensing his thoughts, the human held out what looked like a piece of wood. It was a thin, brown bar, with a brightly colored cover hiding half of it. The deck of the ship was a few feet above the water so whatever the gift was, it was slightly out of reach.

Robbie wasn’t as agile as some of his brethren but for a gift from a human, he could pull something off. He dived, turned, and swam straight up. He leaped clear out of the water, grabbed the bar, and fell back into the ocean. When he came back up, the sailor was clapping.

The bar wasn’t made of wood at all. It was a moist thing that reminded him of mud. Robbie looked up at the sailor. The human was looking at him expectantly. When Robbie tilted his head, the human mimed chewing.

Robbie sniffed the bar. It was slightly damp from when he had landed back in the water, but he could still smell a completely new, almost exciting scent. He took a small bite. A sweet, _delicious_ taste exploded on his tongue. He stared at the bar in awe for a few moments, his tail keeping him from going under. He ate the rest of it enthusiastically. 

Above him, the human laughed, holding the bright covering in his hand. He seemed happy that Robbie had enjoyed the snack. 

An idea formed in Robbie’s mind and he dived deep under the water. When he came up, he sped towards the surface once again. This time, instead of grabbing something from the blue human, Robbie tossed him something.  

He landed back in the water with a splash and looked up excitedly. The blue human was grinning widely, holding the biggest blue parrot fish Robbie could find. 

The two formed a weird friendship without words. The human tossed Robbie a few more sweet things as well as a compass that was in far better condition than the one Glanni had given him. In return, Robbie gave the human more fish and a few blue shells. Robbie had a feeling blue was the sailor’s favorite. 

The ship was going in roughly the same direction Robbie would go to get home so he followed it for a long while. Obviously inspired by Robbie’s tricks to jump out of the water, the sailor began showing off his own stunts on the ship’s railing; flips and cartwheels and all sorts of acrobatics Robbie couldn’t do with a tail. 

Then, someone noticed them.

Another human, this one in yellow, appeared at the blue sailor’s side. As soon as he saw Robbie, he pointed and shouted. This startled Robbie’s human, who had been doing a handstand, and he toppled over.

Into the ocean.

Hitting his head on the railing as he fell.

With a curse, Robbie dived under the water. It was nearing dusk and the sun was casting a foreboding red glow on the water. For a moment, Robbie thought his human had split his skull. But no, there he was, floating motionless not far away, no blood in sight. Robbie grabbed him and held him close as he beat his way to the surface. 

More sailors had gathered by the side of the ship by this point but Robbie didn’t care. He kept his human’s head above water and checked his scalp for any bleeding. The human’s eyes fluttered open and Robbie got a good look at his face for the first time since they met. 

His eyes were the clearest blue, like the ocean early in the morning. With his hat gone, Robbie could see his wavy short hair. He smiled at Robbie and reached up a hand to Robbie’s face. 

He said something in human-speak and kissed Robbie on the cheek. 

Robbie would have floated there forever, stunned, if the other sailors hadn’t thrown down an orange ring tied to the ship. Robbie’s human slid out of Robbie’s grasp and held on to the ring as the sailors pulled him up. 

Something brushed up again Robbie’s arm, snapping him out of his stupor. Turning, he saw his human’s blue hat floating beside him. Without thinking, Robbie grabbed it and stuffed it in his bag. 

As soon as the human was back on board, Robbie watched the yellow sailor from before envelope him in a hug. No one on deck seemed to be paying Robbie any mind except for a girl with bright pink hair. She didn’t look much older than the merkids in Lazy Cove. She stared at Robbie, mouth slightly agape. Thinking of his human, Robbie waved at her. She broke into a grin and waved back enthusiastically.

The yellow human pulled Robbie’s human out of sight for a time, the pink girl following them closely. Though he hadn’t found any injury on his human before, Robbie didn’t like the idea of leaving without making sure he was alright. So he kept pace with the ship. The other sailors ogled him for a bit but moved on relatively quickly.

Just when he was beginning to worry, his human appeared again. He smiled and waved at Robbie from the railing. Robbie smiled back. He tapped the top of his head and raised an eyebrow. The sailor patted his own head and gave a thumbs up. Robbie mimicked the gesture to show he understood.

The sun was nearly set. Thick clouds were gathering before it. Glanni was probably worried about him. Robbie had never interacted this much with a human before and had no idea how to say goodbye. The thought of never seeing this human again hurt but that was the way the ocean worked. It was so vast you were always seeing new creatures or leaving old ones.

Stoically, Robbie raised a hand. The human seemed to understand. He frowned and raised a hand as well. An idea occurred to Robbie and he dove under the water. As he had done so many times before over the last hour, he jumped from the water and tossed the sailor a gift.

By the time Robbie landed and looked back up at the ship, his human had already slapped the soaking wet hat on top of his head, smiling wide. Robbie decided blue was his human’s best color. With a final grin, Robbie disappeared under the waves and sped away.


	4. Storm Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A storm passes overhead. And the kids learn less about Glanni than they 'd like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for being so patient~

Before too long, Robbie arrived at the outskirts of Lazy Cove. He expected to get harassed by the merkids. They loved seeing what new things he found and speculating what humans had used them for. Instead, as Robbie entered the center of town, he found himself alone. The Cove seemed to be deserted. He did a full turn in place, trying to figure out where everyone had gone. Clouds had darkened the sky above but it was nowhere near bedtime. Was someone hurt again? Should he go find Bessie?

“ _There_ you are!” was his only warning. Then Glanni was flying into him at full speed, hugging the life out of him.

“Hello to you too,” Robbie said, patting his back and brushing their tailfins together in a show of affection.

“You’re _late_!” Glanni snapped as he pulled away, “What took you so long? Did you get stuck looking over a particularly _interesting_ fish hook or something?”

“No. I just… took my time today.”

Glanni narrowed his eyes, “Did you run into trouble?”

“No!”

“Did you pass any boats?” Robbie pursed his lips. Glanni let out a sigh, stirring up the water around them. “Why do you insist on going near those things?”

“They’re interesting. I got your favorite hat from a boat.”

“Did you go near any humans?”

Before Robbie could decide whether or not to tell the truth, Ziggy and Trixie had joined them. “Hey, come on up! It’s about to start!” Ziggy said, tugging at Robbie’s arm.

Robbie raised an eyebrow, “What is?”

“The storm!” Trixie explained simply. Grateful for the excuse not to answer his cousin, Robbie allowed himself to be pulled up the surface.

It was pitch black now. Thick ripe clouds shifted above like waves. The whole town seemed to be up; their eyes on the sky. Glanni popped up beside Robbie and looked up as well.

The rain began slowly, from the west. Low rumbles echoed across the endless water. Flashes of lightning shot among the clouds, making the kids “ooo” and “ahh”. Storms on the open ocean were always a spectacle. It was like the sky was fighting the sea; waves reaching up and lightning striking down. The merkids rode those waves, flipping and jumping through massive curls and letting out whoops of joy. Some of the parents joined in. Robbie stayed back with Glanni and Milford, watching the fun.

Thunder soon drowned out the calls of the children and their parents herded them back towards town. Under the water, the waves were even more dramatic. The water looked like squid ink, lightning briefly illuminating the pulsing and thrashing of the surface. Robbie floated on his back just below, watching it all as the merkids were guided home. His bag was heavy on his shoulders but he was too tired to make the trip to his cave tonight. It could wait. Robbie twisted, about to swim off, but saw Glanni drifting close by.

Glanni swam up to him, uncharacteristically solemn. “You don’t have to tell about the ship,” Glanni said, “But just remember there’s a reason I say to stay away from humans. I’m not just trying to baby you.”

The blue human’s smile flashed across Robbie’s vision. Robbie tried to avoid Glanni’s eyes but ended up looking at the scar on his tail. It was hard to link that smile and that scar.

Glanni rarely referenced the time he had spent captured by humans.

“I know,” Robbie said.

Glanni nodded. Then his whole face changed and he swam under Robbie to get to his other side. “What’d you find then? Anything cool? Anything for _me_?” He tugged at Robbie’s bag eagerly.

Robbie pulled it away, “Back up, I didn’t find anything that good.”

“You were gone all day and found _nothing_?!”

“Don’t rub it in.”

“Not even from the human boat?”

For a second, Robbie mourned the loss of his human’s blue hat. He wondered if Glanni would have liked any of the sweet things the human had thrown to Robbie.

“Well, nothing that would go well with the chain you gave me.”

Glanni pouted, “Aw, poor picky Robbie.”

“I wasn’t being picky!”

“Uh huh. I’m sure I could find a good way to use _everything_ in that bag with the chain.”

“What are you going to do with drift wood and bit of metal?”

“ _That’s_ what you found?!”

They bickered all the way back to their sleeping spot. By the time they settled into the sand, the day’s exhaustion caught up with Robbie. He wrapped his arms around himself. Storms always made the ocean colder.

“Can we do this tomorrow?” He begged, tossing his bag to the side. Glanni’s eyes followed it almost longingly but he nodded. Grateful, Robbie curled up on the sand, folding his tail to himself for warmth. There was some shifting beside him and he felt Glanni against him. His skin was cool but a welcome buffer against the water.

Why was Robbie so much more sensitive to temperature? He voiced this question aloud for perhaps the hundredth time.

“Same reason you go up to human boats. You’re just weird.”

Robbie elbowed him and Glanni laughed in his ear. The lightning was over by this point and the thunder had died away. Robbie fell asleep wondering how his human had enjoyed the storm.

* * *

 

The next day, Robbie was somehow harassed into playing with the kids again. Glanni was no help; he merely floated by on his way to visit Bessie and waved when Robbie called out to him.

“Hey, Robbie?” Ziggy asked, tugging at Robbie’s tailfin.

Robbie jerked his tail away, “ _What_?”

“Where did Glanni get his scar?”

Irritation left Robbie quickly and he glanced at the other merkids. They had been braiding sea weed necklaces but now looked between him and Ziggy. They seemed just as curious as Ziggy, but more mature about showing it.

“He got it from humans,” Robbie said simply.

There was a round of gasps. “Glanni attacked a human?!” Ziggy cried.

“No! He didn’t _attack_ a human.”

“Did he try to _eat_ the human then? I’ve always wondered what humans taste like,” Trixie mused, her shark tail flicking behind her at the thought.

Pixel shuttered, “We don’t eat humans, Trixie, don’t be gross.”

“What did Glanni do that a human hurt him?” Stingy asked.

Robbie sighed, “He didn’t do anything. The human… took him. And when Glanni didn’t want to go, the human gave him that scar.”

He thought the children would give up the topic after that but instead they swam up to him with edger faces.

“Did Glanni fight them?!”

“Does the human have a scar too?!”

“Why did the human want Glanni?” 

Robbie rubbed his forehead, “For his dashing good looks, how am _I_ supposed to know?!”

Since he proved to have no answers, the merkids turned to each other and began firing off ideas. Robbie hoped none of them would get back to Glanni. But he didn’t stop them hypothesizing; it was better than having to recount the full story.

Though it had happened about 10 years ago, Robbie could still clearly remember the months he and his aunt had spent worrying about Glanni. When he _had_ finally returned to them, he was weak, sun burnt, the wound on his tail had healed badly, and he was thin as a rail. Glanni had burst into tears upon seeing his small family and it was first time since they were children that Robbie had seen him cry.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later that Glanni told them a bit about what had happened. He explained that a human had captured him and taken him on board a boat set for some human village. There he was kept in a long shallow glass box and prodded at by other humans. One human man had taken pity on him and helped Glanni get to the safety of the ocean.

Glanni did not explain much more than that; not why he was so thin or exactly what the human man had done to release him. Glanni stopped wandering far from Lazy Cove after that and Robbie did not ask why.

“Robbie?”

Pulled from his musings, Robbie blinked rapidly and turned to Pixel, “Yes?”

“If human are so dangerous, why do you get close to their boats?”

Robbie didn’t want to tell them about the cool inventions humans had, or about the blue human with the cute smile. He didn’t want them to be careless around humans on the off chance they were nice. He didn’t want to be the reason one of the kids ended up like Glanni.

So he changed the subject.

“You know, if we used rocks to make holes in some shells, we could make really nice woven hats,” he said, picking up a seashell and examining it with more focus than necessary.

Stingy’s eyes went wide, “You’re not poking holes in _my_ shells!” But all the other merkids had responded excitedly to the idea. “Not my shell!” Stingy insisted over the talk.

Robbie rolled his eyes, “Fine, we’ll use different shells.”

“And I get my hat first!”

That’s when Trixie punched his arm and the crafting project was put on hold for bickering. Robbie preferred that to the questions.


	5. Giving Hats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie discovers the remains of a shipwreck near his island, as well as a certain blue hat. Where is his human?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been excited for these next few chapters. Hope you enjoy!

By dinner, every merkid had a hat to call their own. Robbie had tried to sneak away after they each made one, but they insisted he stay and help make enough hats for the whole village. Everyone, from their parents to Bessie, received a hat from the excited children and the resigned Robbie.

Finally, after presenting Milford with a hat (which the kindly mayor complemented up and down), Robbie was able to sneak away with his and Glanni’s hats. The kids had taken extra care when crafting this particular hat after their heavy conversation.

“It’s hideous,” Glanni said when Robbie presented it to him. It was, indeed, a bulky mass of weeds and shells, with a few fish bones from lunch sticking out the top.

“I know but I promised the brats I’d—”

“ _I love it_.” Glanni all but ripped it from Robbie’s hands and jammed it on his head. He posed, flashing Robbie a sultry face, “How do I look?”

“Uh…”

“I’ll take that as a complement.”  

“Um, sure, do that.”

Glanni beamed and settled against a rock, “Now, about those things you found yesterday…” He held up Robbie’s bag and started pulling out objects.

Thanks to his time spent among humans (or rather, his time as a living trophy) Glanni knew the proper names of a good amount of human things. For example, the stick of metal with prongs was a ‘fork’, used for eating. The folded animal hide was called a ‘book’, which humans read from. Both were interesting in their own right but Robbie was looking for something that fit with his silver chain so he stuffed them haphazardly back into the bag.

The sea urchin looking thing perplexed Glanni until he flicked one of the spikes. It let out a ‘twang’ that cut through the water. He grinned, his dolphin tail twitching excitedly, “It makes music!” He flicked a few more spikes rhythmically with a smile.

“You can keep it if you want,” Robbie said, shutting his bag.

The next morning, before the merkids could catch him again, Robbie grabbed breakfast from the corral and headed for his workshop. Usually the ocean contained nothing but sand and water the further south Robbie swam, rocks and such appearing only after he grew close to the island. Today, he was barely out of sight of the town when huge pieces of drift wood began appearing. Some floated on the surface and occasionally blocked out the sun. Larger pieces had sunk to the bottom and were now sticking out of the sand like thorns.

Robbie circled one, rubbing his hand along its side, “Where did you come from…” He asked it quietly.

Of course, storms like the one they had a few days ago often brought in debris. But this was much more than usual. Almost as if something massive had broken. Puzzled, Robbie swam on. The closer he got to the island, the more there was. Several wooden boxes were embedded in the sea floor. A few flouting blankets of cloth cast shadows from the surface. Tall wooden poles lay at odd angles, otherworldly yet familiar.

And there, right under one of them, a blue hat.

“No,” Robbie found himself saying at he dived for it, “No no _no_ …” He grabbed the hat. It was just as he feared. There was no mistake— it was _his_ human’s hat.

Panicked, Robbie swam straight up until he broke through the waves. He was close to the island now, and even from this distance he could spot more wreckage. The beach, normally deserted but for a few birds, was dotted with humans. A few surrounded a fire in the middle of the beach. Robbie’s grip on the hat tightened. Were these the humans that had been on the ship? Was Robbie’s there? Was the pink girl okay?

Too worried to be scared for his own safety, Robbie took off for the island. He dived down once he got close and made his way to his caves. There he haphazardly discarded his bag before flying out again and looping around to the rocky side of the island.

He stuck close to the edge, hands pressed against the rock to make himself as flat as possible. _His_ human might not hurt Robbie but what of the others? One or more of them might be as bad as Glanni’s captor. Robbie would prefer to stay out of sight if he could. He moved around, not seeing or hearing anyone familiar. He did not stop, he _needed_ to know.

After almost an hour, Robbie made it around to a grassy side of the island, where there was no beach but grass and pebbles where land met water. There Robbie sat for a moment, the water just covering his gills. He placed the hat next to him on the rocks. What if his human really _was_ gone? Would that really be so horrible? Robbie had only met him once, briefly. Why was Robbie so concerned over one human?

There was the sound of a twig snapping behind him and Robbie turned. Standing just outside the tree line, looking just as surprised, was Robbie’s human.

“ _There_ you are!” Robbie snapped, “I’ve been worried _sick_!”

Of course, the human didn’t understand Robbie but he still smiled wide and ran towards him. He hugged Robbie around the shoulders, talking quickly in human-speak. Robbie couldn’t understand him either but he seemed happy so Robbie hugged back.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Robbie said, speaking over him, “How did you end up _here_ of all places? You can’t understand me at all, can you?”

The man pulled away, holding Robbie’s face in his hands. Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to Robbie’s forehead. Frustration over lack of a shared language had been bubbling up inside Robbie— but the open affection from his human calmed him. His face was probably red. How embarrassing.

That was also the second kiss he had received from this man. It was awkward not to know how to refer to him.

Pulling back, Robbie poked his human in the chest and raised an eyebrow. The man looked between Robbie’s hand and his face, clearly confused. Robbie rolled his eyes. He withdrew his hand to poke himself. “Robbie,” he stated slowly. “ _Ro_ -bie.” Then he poked his human again.

Realization lit those bright blue eyes and the human placed a hand on his chest beside Robbie’s finger, “Sportacus.”

The hell kind of a mouthful was _that_?

“ _Sport_ -a-cus,” the human repeated. He placed a hand on Robbie’s check, “ _Roh_ -bee.”

Robbie found himself turning red again. Were all humans this touchy? Normally the only one who got this close to Robbie was his own cousin.

Robbie mimicked his human and placed a hand on the man’s cheek, fingers just grazing his mustache, “Sportacus.” The name was easier to say than Robbie thought.

Sportacus smiled again and nodded. It was nice to have a name for this blue sailor now. Speaking of blue, Robbie grabbed the hat from his other side and held it up to Sportacus. With an exclamation in human-speak, Sportacus grabbed the hat and wrung it out. It was just as soaked as last time Robbie had given it back to him.

“How did you end up here?” Robbie mused quietly as he watched Sportacus lay the hat to dry on a boulder nearby. When Sportacus looked back over at him, Robbie tried to convey his question by gesturing at the island and tilting his head to the side in confusion. Sportacus seemed to get the idea. He went back to the trees and snapped off a branch.

Kneeling on the grass, Sportacus began drawing shapes in the dirt where grass met the sea. Robbie scooted over, careful to keep his lower half mostly covered by water.

The first thing Sportacus drew was a human ship. Well, he drew an upside down semi-circle with a line sticking out of it but once he drew squiggling lines under it to symbolize water, Robbie got the gist. Sportacus drew what was clearly meant to be a mermaid beside the ship. He pointed at the mermaid.

“Robbie,” Sportacus said.

“Yes, thank you. That was obvious.”

When Sportacus looked confused at Robbie’s words, Robbie gave a thumbs up to show he understood instead. Sportacus nodded. He used his hand to erase Robbie. Apparently whatever had happened occurred after Robbie left.

Next, Sportacus drew big puffy ovals that looked like clouds above the ship. Little dash marks fell from the clouds and zig zags akin to lightning were draw over them. Sportacus continued to draw, sketching large waves around the ship before finally erasing the ship altogether.

Robbie’s heart sank. The storm. The storm he had watched with his town. The storm the merkids had enjoyed so much, riding waves and admiring the lightning. That was the reason Sportacus was stranded here? Robbie had never thought about the effects of an unruly sea on human ships. At the time he had just assumed his human had enjoyed the experience, as Robbie had.

More questions popped up in Robbie’s head. Unfortunately, no way to get these questions across popped up with them. This left Robbie frowning at Sportacus for probably longer than necessary. Sportacus, the whole while, sat on the smooth rocks and watched Robbie. He seemed physically unhurt. He even looked happy, just sitting there in Robbie’s company.

There was one way Robbie could think of to talk to Sportacus.

But Glanni wouldn’t like it.

Sportacus frowned, “Robbie?” He went on in human-speak, then appeared to catch himself and frowned again, eyebrows furrowed. He looked just as frustrated as Robbie felt.

Screw Glanni, Robbie wanted to talk to his human.

Robbie leaned up out of the water briefly and placed his hands on Sportacus’ shoulders. “Sportacus. Stay. Don’t move.” He tried to accent what was probably gibberish to Sportacus by pressing firmly on the human’s shoulders. Sportacus took Robbie’s wrists and gently removed the mermaid’s hands. Sportacus then shifted so his legs were crossed, getting comfortable on the ground. He grinned at Robbie.

Thrilled Sportacus had understood, Robbie planted a kiss on his nose. Robbie forced down a blush and splashed back into the water, swimming as fast as he could towards Lazy Cove.


	6. Meeting The Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glanni and Sportacus finally meet. And the fates of the Pink Girl and Yellow Sailor are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how late this is! The Lazytown Ship Week took up a lot of my creative energy. Thank you all for your positive feedback!
> 
> (also, I'm going to Katsucon on Feb 16th so check out [my tumblr then](http://indigowallbreaker.tumblr.com/)  
> if you want to see my Sportacus cosplay~)

Robbie swam into the center of town once he realized Glanni wasn’t in their sleeping spot. Bessie sat on a rock, chatting with Glanni, who was messing with her hair. They were gossiping so loud Robbie could hear them from several yards away.

“And then Fjölnir, from Mayhem Cove? _He_ said he saw Bobert _and_ Harriet out by the glitter stones. _Alone_.”

Glanni made a face of disgust, “Ugh. Dearie, you _know_ you can’t trust Fjölnir. He’ll spread _any_ rumor to make Tobert upset.”

Bessie giggled unkindly, “Well he did a good job. Tobert freaked out and _left_. Serves him right. Harriet’s too good for him.”

Robbie finally got close enough to grab Glanni by the arm and tug. Through ragged breaths he managed to say, “Glanni… please... follow me.”

Glanni raised an eyebrow, taking in Robbie urgency. “Am I going to like this?”

“No.”

“Does it have to do with your human boat adventure?”

“…Yes.”

After a heavy, over-dramatic sigh, Glanni tidied up Bessie’s curls and followed Robbie. At a much slower pace, the two left Lazy Cove.

Robbie was silent as they left the town proper. No matter how he phrased this explanation, Glanni wasn’t going to be happy. Glanni grew impatient before Robbie could collect his thoughts.

“Should I start guessing some more or am I going to get the full story?” Glanni said flatly. He was watching Robbie with a mixture of annoyance and concern.

Robbie sighed, “When I went up to the human boat yesterday, I… met a human.”

“You _what_?!”

“He waved and then I waved and—”

“You got _close_ to a human and then _communicated_ with it?!”

“I stayed in the water! He didn’t try to catch me!”

“I don’t give you many rules to follow, Robbie! You’re a grown mermaid and you can make your own mistakes but I asked you to do _one thing_!”

“Look, that’s not the important point right n—”

“YOU HAD _ONE RULE_ , ROBBIE!”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Robbie said at the same volume. He waited a beat to make sure Glanni wouldn’t keep ranting. When his cousin merely huffed, Robbie went on. “He shared his food with me and I gave him some things in return. Then we were—”

Glanni grabbed Robbie and squished his cheeks together firmly. “You _ate_ something a _human_ gave you?”

Robbie glared, which probably didn’t look too intimidating while his face was being scrunched up, “If you keep interrupting me we’re never going to get through this.”

Glanni released him, “Fine, keep talking.”

As they swam on, Robbie told the rest of the story; the human falling, Robbie saving him, saying good bye, and finding the ship broken around the island.

“Now he and his crew are stuck here,” Robbie finished, “He was able to tell me through pictures.” The pair had reached the island, though they floated a good way away from it to remain hidden. Glanni’s expression had darkened gradually as Robbie explained everything. Now he looked ready to bolt back to Lazy Cove.

“So let me get this straight,” Glanni said after a moment. “You _willingly_ ate some strange food from a human, saved his life, then sought him out later at the risk of others seeing you?”

“Well, yes. When you put it that way—”

“It sounds dumb, right?” Glanni finished for him, “I have news for you, Robbie.”

“You haven’t met him, Glanni!” Robbie crossed his arms, “He’s _never_ tried to hurt me even though, as you keep pointing out, he’s had plenty of opportunities. He’s kind and fun and _not_ like the humans _you_ know.”

“You never _met_ the humans I know!” Glanni cried, “Humans are cruel. They will do anything they like to a mermaid— to them we’re like any other fish!”

“Do you think I would drag you out here if I thought it would put us in danger?!” Robbie felt tears sting his eyes. This wasn’t how he had pictured this going. He hadn’t meant to bring up Glanni’s kidnapping.

He took a calming breath of cool sea water and swam close enough to put his hands on Glanni’s shoulders. “You have to trust me,” Robbie said, “I want to help this human. I told you about us trading things, I told you about preforming tricks for each other. I didn’t tell you all that to piss you off. It shows he’s a _good_ human. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. Just trust me. Please.”

Glanni didn’t look completely convinced but he did sigh and look off toward the island. “What do you want me to do?” He asked.

“You know human-speak. I just want you to talk to him. Pictures are only getting us so far.”

A few seconds passed. Robbie didn’t move and Glanni didn’t look at him. Finally, Glanni flicked his dolphin tail to shift away from Robbie. “If I get a bad vibe or if he tries anything, we’re leaving,” Glanni stated, “I know you love your caves here but if this human is a threat, I won’t let you come back here until they’re all gone.”

“So you’ll do it?”

Glanni squished Robbie’s cheeks again, smirking, “How could I say no to this face?”

“Please stop doing that.”

“Consider it punishment for being a rule breaking little merkid.”

Grumbling, Robbie jerked his face out of his cousin’s grasp and led them around the island. To his surprise and delight, Sportacus was still sitting by the rocky shore. Robbie dragged Glanni above the surface by the arm so Glanni could get a good look at Sportacus.

“I’ll give him points for patience,” Glanni muttered. Robbie grinned. Hearing Glanni say _anything_ positive about a human felt like a victory at this point.

They swam closer. Eventually Sportacus noticed and he stood from his spot, waving excitedly. Robbie waved back with a smile. Glanni made no comment, surprisingly.

When they reached the shore, Robbie didn’t hesitant to climb up onto the rocks and sit in the shallow water. Sportacus sat right beside him. He stared at Glanni, who stayed in the deeper water in front of them. Glanni looked between the two of them. Robbie wasn’t sure how to make introductions. How would he act out ‘cousin’?

Glanni cleared his throat and turned fully to Sportacus. He began talking. The words were gibberish to Robbie but the way Sportacus’ eyes went wide told Robbie he could understand just fine. Sportacus responded in the same language.

“Well?” Robbie prompted after Sportacus fell silent, “What did he say?”

“Hang on.” Glanni spoke again. Sportacus responded. Glanni frowned and glanced at Robbie with apprehension. “Uh, we may need to come up with a nickname or something.”

“Can he not pronounce ‘Glanni’?”

“We can’t pronounce _his_ name,” Glanni said, “It’s too complicated. We’ll have to shorten it.”

Robbie cocked his head, “What’s complicated about Sportacus?”

Glanni gawked at him. His eyes zipped back and forth between Robbie and Sportacus. Robbie looked at Sportacus for good measure. The human seemed fascinated by Glanni, staring openly at his grey tail, so different from Robbie’s, that occasionally drifted to the surface.

“What?” Robbie finally asked. 

“How do you know his name?!”

“I told you we talked!”

Glanni gaped, “You shouldn’t be able to say that.”

Robbie frowned, “What? Sportacus?”

“Yeah. You shouldn’t... I mean, mermaids can’t make certain human sounds and…” He rubbed his chin, “At least I don’t _think_ you can say that.”

Robbie sighed. Just one more thing to add to his list of odd characteristics.

A hand slipped into his and he jumped. Sportacus was looking at him with concern. He squeezed Robbie’s hand and said something in human-speak. Robbie side eyed Glanni, hoping for a translation.

“He’s asking if you’re okay,” Glanni said, still looking thoughtful.

Squeezing Sportacus’ hand, Robbie nodded. Those bright blue eyes lit up as the human smiled. Robbie found himself smiling as well.

There was a splash next to Robbie and he found himself with a face full of water. He turned to glare at Glanni, who broke the surface again with a shake of his head. “Sorry!” said his cousin, not sounding it. “Just getting wet. The sun doesn’t like me as much as it likes you.”

Sportacus let go of Robbie to wipe salt water out of his eyes. “Sorry about him,” Robbie said.

“Yeah I’m not translating that.” Glanni puffed a wet lock of hair out of his face before speaking to Sportacus again. The two went back and forth of a while. Robbie tried to pick out patterns in the language but it all sounded so garbled to him. Some words he could understand after a bit. Robbie’s name came up a few times, as well as what he guessed was “boat” and “storm”. Once or twice Sportacus has to act out a word Glanni didn’t know.

Suddenly, the mood shifted. Sportacus’ expression grew serious. Glanni shifted forward, resting his elbows on the rocks and speaking intently. Robbie still couldn’t understand either of them but they both looked despondent.

Robbie leaned against Sportacus, trying to wordlessly give comfort. “What’s wrong?” he asked after the pair fell silent.

Glanni, to Robbie’s immense surprise, reached out to rest a hand on Sportacus’ knee. Sportacus offered him a strained smile.

“They lost people in the storm,” Glanni explained, “Most everyone washed up here, and some supplies too. But some humans never came back up.” Glanni finally looked up at Robbie, “You made me care about a human, I could hit you.”

Robbie couldn’t hold back a snort, “You see why I dragged you here.”

“Shut up.”

Robbie took Sportacus’ hand again, bringing it up to kiss his knuckles. Sportacus squeezed the hand, rubbing his thumb over Robbie’s.

“How do you say ‘Sorry’ in human-speak?” Robbie asked.

“ _Sorry_ ,” Glanni said in that strange tongue.

Robbie nodded and turned to Sportacus who looked confused. “ _Sorry_ ,” Robbie said.

Sportacus broke into a grin that seemed to take him by surprise and rested his head on Robbie’s shoulder. He mumbled something. Robbie looked to Glanni to translate.

“He says ‘thank you’,” Glanni said. He was leaning on one hand with his elbow on the rocks, watching them with a flat expression, “Do I still need to be here or…?”

“Yes,” Robbie said quickly, willing his blush to go away. “Ask him about the pink girl and the yellow sailor.”

“The who and the what?”

“When I helped him back onto his ship before, he was talking with a girl with pink hair and a sailor in yellow. I want to know if they’re okay. They looked like his friends.”

Sportacus picked his head up to listen as Glanni translated. At least Robbie _hopped_ that’s what Glanni was doing. Robbie was putting a lot of trust in Glanni not to embarrass them.

“They’re both fine,” Glanni said, translating for Sportacus as the human answered, “The girl with pink hair is Stephanie, a family friend. The yellow sailor…” Glanni trailed off, staring at Sportacus with an expression Robbie could not read.

“Glanni?” He prompted. Even Sportacus sensed something was wrong. He stopped talking and cocked his head, staring at Glanni with confusion.

“Is that a common human name?!” Glanni asked, his voice slightly higher than normal. Sportacus furrowed his eyebrows and Glanni, who seemed to realize his mistake, repeated the question in human-speak. Glanni seemed a cross between anxious and flabbergasted.

“What’s wrong with—” Robbie was cut off by Glanni splashing him again.

“Shush!” Glanni looked up at Sportacus with wide eyes and asked the same question with more urgency. Sportacus slowly shook his head. Glanni clapped a hand over his mouth and moved back from the rocky shore.

Beside him, Sportacus said something in human-speak. He sounded just as concerned as Robbie. “What’s wrong? What did he say?” Robbie asked. But Glanni just shook his head, sinking lower into the water until just his wide eyes were showing.

Robbie was about to swim over to him when there was a crash behind them. He and Sportacus turned to see a human making his way out of the tree line. He had a grin on his face and was talking loudly in human-speak. The human had a bushier mustache than Sportacus and a beard to match— both blond. Definitely the yellow sailor from the other day; he wore a yellow hat, and though the rest of his uniform was torn up Robbie recognized it.

When he noticed Robbie and Sportacus, the human stopped walking and looked to Sportacus, no doubt to ask about the mermaid beside him. His eyes caught on something beyond Sportacus and his mouth snapped shut as he stared in awe over Robbie’s shoulder

Robbie looked back at Glanni, who was staring at the yellow sailor with the same expression. The yellow human let out a shout and ran towards the shore. He jumped into the ocean without hesitation. Robbie and Sportacus both raised their arms to block the corresponding splash. For a moment, Robbie was terrified that he had just lost his only family; that he had led Glanni to danger and they were now under attack.

Lowering his arms, Robbie looked out at the scene before him and realized how wrong he was.

Glanni and the yellow sailor were clinging to each other, Glanni’s tail flapping rapidly under water to keep them afloat. They were both laughing and talking in human-speak. When the human pulled his head away, Robbie saw Glanni was crying openly. He cupped the human’s face and spoke softly. The sailor let out a barking laugh and pressed their foreheads together.

Robbie slowly turned to Sportacus, who, dumbstruck, turned to Robbie.

They shared a shrug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (see Rottensocks? I DID take your name suggestions XD)


End file.
